LION'S MANE JELLYFISH (Notes on size) Thanks a bunch to everyone for their input on the "Giant' lion's Mane Jelly. I finally got a hold of the (Agassiz, A. 1865) reference in ICMCZ. It's a brief mention of Cyanea arctica, (did the name change to capillata or is this a different species??? anyone know??? ). Here's what Agassiz wrote.... 'This species attains an enormous size. I measured myself a specimen at Nahant, the disk of which had attained a diameter of seven and a half feet, the tentacles extending to a length of more than one hundred and twenty feet." He then continues with a paragraph about his observations of the young of this species. Nahant, as I learned on mapquest, is about 4 miles Northeast of Boston. Do the 120 foot tentacles seem plausible to those who know this species? Any guesses at the weight Agassiz's specimen might have been? I wish I knew weather it was spread out flat on the beach or not. I am planning to go in search of these really big specimens to film them. Even if I can only find one meter subjects I will be pleased, and it will be interesting to see what they are eating. Any suggestions on where and when to look? (Further off shore, deeper, certain currents like the the Gulf stream?) If I find a giant, what observations or samples might be useful scientifically. Collect sample for DNA to determine if it's the same species as the smaller specimens? Any way to get an approximate age? Suggestions?? Thanks again, Ernie -- Ernie Kovacs 237 Granite St. Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (831)-372-4234 cell (831)-521-5056 Hello again, The two names Medusa capillata Linnaeus, 1758 and Cyanea arctica Péron & Lesueur, 1809 were usually treated as representing separate species until the US cnidariologist Alfred G. Mayer in his 1910 work (Medusae of the world) united them as Cyanea capillata, regarding C. arctica a variety of the other (together with 6 other variants, of which at least the European C. lamarckii since long time is considered to be a good species). After Mayer's work most specialist have agreed upon the synonymy of C. arctica with C. capillata, albeit Gilbert Ranson, when reporting in 1945 on the scyphomedusae of Prince Albert Grimaldi's expeditions kept them separate. Today, however, most specialists consider C. arctica to be a variety or subspecies of C. capillata. Possibly future DNA studies may throw more light upon the somewhat confused taxonomy of the genus, but as far as I know, no such studies has yet been published. Other types of studies however exist. See e.g. Brewer, R. H. 1991. Morphological differences between, and reproductive isolation of, two populations of the jellyfish Cyanea in Long Island Sound, USA. Hydrobiologia 216/217:471-477. The tentacles are very "elastic" and there are several other reports of very long tentacles connected to this species. I have myself seen specimens of ca 25 cm diameter with at least 5 meter long tentacles. In northern Europe the medusa stage of the species usually is seen from early spring to late summer, autumn or early winter, when adult specimens are cast ashore and die after breeding or lie weakened on the bottom and became eaten by crabs, like Cancer pagurus (own observation). The larger arctic specimens likely grow older and to be able to do so, they probably must live below the sea surface in stormy weather and far from shores, in order not to risk to be hurt by abrasion from waves or shores, so I guess you must look for them far from land in good weather. Canadian waters in the Atlantic or around Greenland would likely be good hunting areas, because several of the old unconfirmed reports of giant specimens were from whalers hunting in these waters as far as I remember. Likely late summer or early autumn would be the best period to find large specimens, although - if their life span is longer than that of the European population - perhaps there is a chance to find specimens also in other seasons? Best wishes Hans G. H. -- **** Hans.G.Hansson@TMBL.GU.SE **** Tjaernoe Marine Biological Lab. **** http://www.tmbl.gu.se Phone: +46 526 686 36 Fax: +46 526 686 07 Personal home page: http://www.tmbl.gu.se/staff/HansGHanssonP.html BEMON: http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/Index.htm NEAT: http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/taxa.html